[Visit Keara's twitter here.]"I met up with the other HOAX'ers Ravi Thornton (author), Karrie Fransman, Rian Hughes, Julian Hanshaw, Ian Jones, Hannah Berry and Mark Stafford (illustrators) at Gosh! Comics for a happy afternoon of signing. I met Mark, Karrie and Rian for the first time, as they weren't present at the launch last month, and they are just as lovely as everyone I've met so far. The whole afternoon was a whirlwind of squiggles and doodles, requests and new faces though there were some familiar faces as Andy Oliver from Broken Frontier came along to say hi too! I also managed to pick up Dan Berry's book Suitcase on half price which I was chuffed about. After the signings we made our way to a nice pub to finish of the day nicely."

The graphic memoir. Arguably, it’s the one strand of graphic novel publishing most responsible over the last few years for persuading those unfamiliar with the form of its integral value as a storytelling device. Comics by their very structure, and by the intricacies of their relationship with the audience, have an intimacy that allows them to share and communicate ideas in a way that no other medium can. The experience of visually digesting a comic is unique in that the reader plays an intrinsic part themselves in both driving the narrative and interacting with the layout of the page. In that regard we become almost a part of the story ourselves – we’re not just observers of events we’re also living them one person removed. Over the last decade we have seen an explosion in GNs that impart this kind of very personal experience; books that fully exploit the opportunities comics provide for eliciting an empathic emotional response with their protagonists through that special relationship they have with their readership. Of all the graphic memoirs I have read in recent years few have impressed and moved me in the way that cross-media creator Ravi Thornton’s HOAX Psychosis Blues has. I reviewed the book for Broken Frontier back in May here and also conducted an in-depth interview on its themes with Ravi here in June. HOAX follows the story of her brother Rob in the last years of his life, employing a framing sequence that charts his struggle with schizophrenia on an annual basis. Each of these segments is punctuated by a visual interpretation of one of the many poems he wrote during that time. The graphic novel was complemented by a stage show HOAX My Lonely Heart which made its debut at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre in June.Those poetry sequences are illustrated by a whole host of artistic talent, many of whom will be available to sign copies of HOAX Psychosis Blues this Saturday 19th July at London’s Gosh! Comics between 2pm and 3pm. If you’re in Soho then and want to pick up a copy of a book that represents a remarkable use of the comics form – one that was described here at BF as “a hauntingly beautiful masterpiece” – and get it signed by the very talented likes of Karrie Fransman, Mark Stafford, Rian Hughes, Hannah Berry, Julian Hanshaw, Ian Jones, Rozi Hathaway and Ravi Thornton then there’s a Facebook group here with full details or you can visit the Gosh! site here.Proceeds from the book go to mental health charities and this seems a good point to also mention Ziggy’s Wish, the publishing outfit set up by Ravi Thornton with a view to ensuring that a percentage of profits from her storytelling could be put towards charities relevant to specific work. You can find out about Ziggy’s Wish – HOAX Psychosis Blues is their first venture – on their website here, and please do consider following them on Twitter here as well and Facebook here. They’ve been tirelessly raising awareness of mental health issues on social media since the publication of HOAX and eminently deserve the small effort of clicking on that ‘Follow’ or ‘Like’ button![Read the original post here.]

The dear Prof Matt and I teaming up again to present in our own inimitable style. Here's the abstract of the talk that we gave:HOAX: A case study in cross-media and academic collaboration "A cross-media project combining a graphic novel, Psychosis Blues, with a dark musical, My Lonely Heart, HOAX is based on a selection of poems written by Ravi Thornton’s brother Roabbi, during the several-year long duration of his ultimately fatal mental illness, schizophrenia. Roabbi’s poems expressed his varying state of mind, and constitute a very honest portrayal of what it was like for him to suffer the illness. HOAX explores the story and characters around this poetry, the backstory and context for a young, mixed-race man living in an inner city, suffering from schizophrenia, primarily undiagnosed. My Lonely Heart combines music and physical theatre to relay the first part of the story (pre-diagnosis), while Psychosis Blues, uses comics form to narrate a series of episodes (post-diagnosis) interlinking nine of Roabbi’s poems. The project’s scripts thus draw on a set of dialogues between sister and brother, present and past, the living and the dead, the fictional and the real. From this dialogical matrix, the project has opened out into a series of collaborations, amongst writer, director, composer, producer, artists, book designer and, perhaps uniquely, an academic invited into the core creative team. Beginning with a reflection on the principles underpinning collaborative creation, this paper will proceed to explore what happens when the interpretative and theoretical perspectives normally brought to bear upon a finished artwork are incorporated into the process of creative production itself. Whereas the role of the participant observer has become commonplace within the social sciences, within the arts the formal inclusion of the researcher as part of the researched remains much rarer. Equally uncommon, collaboration between creator and critic at the level of academic dissemination (via co-presenting and co-writing conference papers and journal articles) opens up a number of hitherto under-explored potentialities that our paper will discuss. Whilst not overlooking the risks attendant upon collaborations of this sort, the paper will outline the ways in which projects like HOAX can transform the relationship between the academic and non-academic worlds, and strengthen the final outcome."I'd say it was our best performance yet!

This coming Friday will see the Ziggy’s Wish founder and author of HOAX Psychosis Blues, Ravi Thornton, team up with The University of Nottingham professor and academic Dr Matt Green, to speak at the Fifth International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference, hosted by the esteemed British Library. The International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference is a fantastic, annual event dedicated to really exploring the nitty-gritty, in-depth ideas and details of the comics world, and proving that comics and graphic novel can be taken seriously as an art form. Ravi and Matt will be talking about HOAX as a case study in cross-media and academic collaboration, speaking on day one of the conference this Friday (18th July), as part of a panel on collaboration and memory. Andrea Greenbaum and Penelope Mendonca will be talking on the same panel. There’s a plenty of collaboration in the HOAX project, but here Ravi and Matt will be focusing on the relationship between the two of them. We want to grow HOAX and cross-media storytelling as a valuable engagement tool, and academic research and collaboration is a huge part of that. This talk will explain how. This year the conference will focus on Production and Institution of comics, as well as Sedition and Anarchy within the genre. Talks on gender, politics, art, business and violence all intersect with comics and graphic novels at their core. It’s a smorgasbord of graphic delight for anyone with even an inkling of interest in comics as a storytelling format. We’re delighted and honoured to have our own author Ravi speaking in the event. If you're going to the conference, make sure you don’t miss her (and do please say hello).[Read the original post here.]

"It was a fantastic day in Manchester on Saturday, starting off at Travelling Man selling books pre-launch and doing some signing. Out of the ten total illustrators there were four of us on the day, Julian Hanshaw, Hannah Berry, Ian Jones and myself, plus writer/creator/all-round-supertalent Ravi Thornton. I admit, I felt like maybe I was in some sort of surreal dream sat next to such talented and lovely people, but thankfully nerves only got the better of me a couple of times (and hopefully no one noticed!!). The feedback from people who'd already seen the stage show was fantastic, making it all the more exciting for the final run that night.

"Back at the Royal Exchange Theatre for the final show of HOAX My Lonely Heart; the performance was incredibly moving, with Tachia Newell and Olivia Sweeney portraying Rob and Helen. The live music soundtrack from https://soundcloud.com/minutetaker Minute Taker from the side of the stage was a beautiful addition, and the looming presence of Rob's illness (played by Stephen Myott-Meadows) gave a really sinister feel. The feeling of watching someone mentally unravel in front of my eyes is something I won't be forgetting for a while. Read the 4* review here! Following the stage show we all piled into Sandinista Bar's lower floor for the after-party and further signings. And, after a great speech from Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier, and a heartfelt, moving speech from Ravi we all settled in for a night of good company.

"So there we are! HOAX Psychosis Blues is published and available for purchase direct from Ziggy's Wish. It's on a limited run of 1000 First Edition copies all signed and numbered by the author, and sales from book go towards supporting mental health charities."

"So what have I learnt? HOAX as a whole has taught me many things, one of which being caffeine abuse, but in relation to Saturday I have learnt a very important lesson: People will ask in future "Can you draw something too!" in a book when signing, and I really, really need to think of something to fallback on. Needless to say there are a couple of awfully drawn butterflies in people's books due to my lack of preparation and inability to focus under direct pressure. Oops! There is still lots to learn.For now, that's it!"[Visit Rozi's blog here.]

At last year’s Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, I spoke on a panel discussion titled ‘Rocking with Horror’, alongside Hannah Berry, Ian Culbard, David Hine, HOAX composer Minute Taker, and our chair Alex Fitch. I wrote about it at the time in a post here.

Rather wonderfully, Alex presents ‘Panel Borders’, the weekly radio show on comics that broadcasts on Resonance 104.4FM London. As such Alex recorded the panel talk, broadcast half of it during a set of shows he was presenting on comics and horror, and saved the other half – ‘my’ half – for his set of shows on comics and music.

The broadcast, which wound up that set of shows, went out yesterday, and it was really great to be able to hear and share the panel talk once again. Don’t worry if you missed it, because it’s being repeat-broadcast this Thursday, May 1st, 11am; and will be available on Alex’s site as a podcast too.

Here's the official info:

"Concluding a month of shows about the connections between comics and music, graphic novelist Ravi Thornton discusses her books The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone and HOAX Psychosis Blues with Alex Fitch in a Q and A recorded at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival.

"Ravi talks about the musical accompaniment for Minno Marylebone, its connection with ballet and new technology, the numerous artists involved with Hoax and how the graphic novel will be accompanied by a performance at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in June. The episode also features Hannah Berry talking about her contribution to Psychosis Blues and a pair of songs from HOAX My Lonely Heart performed and introduced by Minute Taker (Ben McGarvey)."

The truly stunning artwork of Rhiana Jade, one of my long-time collaborators, graces my post today as we take a detail from 'Of Zeus and Leda'.

Rhiana lives in Sydney with her young daughter, and sadly won't be joining us for the launch in June. Her work is so incredibly powerful, however, that I've no doubt her presence will be felt nonetheless.

The fourth of our (ten) HOAX Psychosis Blues sneak peeks today features the stunning artwork of Rozi Hathaway, with a detail from 'A Load Lifted'.

The commitment and effort that Rozi poured into this project whilst working on her set of pages was totally inspiring. I'm so proud that she'll be with us for the book launch in June. Rozi's earned the right to sign her name in this very special book, and absolutely deserves it.

A third sneak peek into the pages of HOAX Psychosis Blues today, this time at the incredible work of Mr Julian Hanshaw, with a detail from 'Polaris and Me'.

I'm over the moon that Julian (and Mrs Julian too) are both travelling up from where they live - a long long long long long way away - in order to attend the book launch in June. As well as being super talented, Julian is one of the most humble and loveliest men I've ever met, and it'd be a treat for anyone just to meet him :)

Today's HOAX-illustrator-sneak-peek is Karrie Fransman, with a detail from 'A Desolate Spot'. Karrie is just one of the several illustrators who will be signing at the Psychosis Blues book launch on June 7th. Others include Hannah Berry, Julian Hanshaw, Ian Jones, Rozi Hathaway... A rare and amazing opportunity to get your book multi-signed!

An exciting day in the cottage today as we look forward to receiving dear Prof Matt as our guest.

Professor Matthew J. A. Green of English Literature at The University of Nottingham, to give the man his full title, has being academic researcher and collaborator on both my graphic-novel projects so far (The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, and HOAX).

We’ve batted so many documents back and forth over the past couple of years, flitted hither and thither to various conferences and talks, and become firm friends in the process. So I was quite surprised to realise this morning that the Prof’s never actually been round.

A frantic bout of tidying later, and I can tell you the reason that Prof Matt is coming to stay is because we’re heading across the hills tonight to speak at Laydeez Do Comics Leeds.

Hosted by the very impressive Louise Crosby, it looks set to be yet another Laydeez smash, so if you can make it then please come along.

Here’s the line-up...

Dr Ian Hague:

Academic and director of Comics Forum. Author of Comics and the Senses: A Multi-sensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels. Talking about his research into the ways comics stimulate all 5 senses and are challenge the idea that comics are purely visual in nature.

Louise Crosby & Clare Shaw:

Illustrator and poet. Poetry performance and a talk about their collaboration Seeing Poetry: Poetry in Words and Comics.

Ravi Thornton & Dr Matt Green:

Ravi is a award winning cross-media writer whose work includes the debut graphic novel The Tale Of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone. Ravi will be speaking about her present project HOAXMy Lonely Heart a musical stage performance, and HOAX Psychosis Blues a graphic novel. Matt is an academic from University of Nottingham who edited Alan Moore and the Gothic Tradition. He is working with Ravi on several projects. He will be speaking about this and the gothic tradition in comics.

With one thing and another, the talk that Prof Matt and I were due to give at Laydeez Do Comics in London last December rather crept up on me. Being part of a double act, however, fortunately comes with that whole ‘twice as much in half the time’ advantage. And so it was that we took to the stage with only relatively minor bumblings. Of course it’s the welcoming, non-judgemental yet highly astute environment Laydeez have very consciously cultured that made us, and everyone else present, feel so comfortable. The professor and I were slated for the second half of the evening. The first half saw Tim Pilcher and Paul Collicutt talking about their project Brighton: the Graphic Novel along with Ottilie Hainsworth and Jaime Huxtable, two of the 28(!) writers and illustrators involved in this fascinating and energetic collaboration. As well as the sneak peeks into the beautiful array of styles in the book, it was great to hear about the community publishing structure standing behind the Brighton: the Graphic Novel project, and making it possible. After a networking break, complete with the eponymous Laydeez cakes, it was time for our talk: INTERSECTIONS: Crossings of genres, traditions and media. Moving back and forth between the two of us, Prof Matt spoke of his work in Gothic traditions and how that crosses-over with aspects my work, whilst I discussed those aspects in more detail. In particular we looked at the fictionalising of biography, and of how, for me, this is much more a calculated writing device than an emotional indulgence or cathartic release. Laydeez Do Comics really is a very remarkable affair. As always, the debate between audience and speakers was lively and thought-provoking. We had a lovely and fascinating evening, and very much look forward to the next time!* *The Professor and I will be talking again at Laydeez Do Comics, this time in Leeds, as part of the Yorkshire Festival, next Monday (March 31st, 2014).